Amendments to Futsal LOTG 2020/21

[Yampy]

New law amendments to be applied from July 1, 2020

 

[AlexF]

The majority of the changes bring futsal further in line with changes that IFAB has made to the football laws since 2016, especially around the handball language cleanup, cards for coaches, kickoff, etc.

There are a few very futsal specific things, and for a couple of them (especially DOGSO), we'll have to see what the change looks like in the context of the full law.

 

[one]

If the goalkeeper is in front of the goal, you can't have a DOGSO. That's and interesting one. Encourages defender to foul from behind in a one on one situation.

And for lock-in, ball has to be on the line. Back to the old way.

 

[RefIADad]

If the goalkeeper is in front of the goal, you can't have a DOGSO. That's and interesting one. Encourages defender to foul from behind in a one on one situation.

And for lock-in, ball has to be on the line. Back to the old way.

If the law means what I think it means, it's a poor law change - especially since a send-off results in a team only playing short for two minutes. In ice hockey, an infraction on a breakaway results in a penalty shot. I completely agree that this law will result in cynical, professional fouls occurring much more regularly in futsal. It also increases the possibility of injury.

If anything, sending players off for DOGSO fouls is less consequential in futsal because a team plays short for a defined period of time instead of the rest of that game (and may not play short at all if the foul results in a successful penalty kick). I think IFAB really needs to rethink this one. I get the goal is smaller in futsal, but a breakaway is still very much in favor of the attacker.

The kick-in change is one that probably won't be enforced much. If a player quickly sets the ball a few inches behind the touchline and plays it in, I wouldn't be overly strict about it. In most cases, the kick-in is simply a means to get the ball back into active play. In the games I've watched, I haven't seen that many set plays from a kick-in unless it's near the corner arc. If I'm refereeing, I'll be more strict when the attacking team slows down to create a set piece. If they are just setting the ball to put it back into play, I won't really enforce the ball on the line unless it's so obvious that I have no choice but to make them move the ball on or very close to the line.